This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9B project to build the Barclays Center arena and 15-16 towers at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake going forward. As of 2018, after the arena and four towers were built, Greenland will own 95% of future construction.

Community Board 2 votes to support bollard plan; DOT hearing in October; state memo coming on truncated sidewalk

Well, chalk up one victory for process, if not exactly rigorous oversight.

Developer Forest City Ratner did attend the monthly meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 2 last night, despite doubts that the developer would appear, and made a fairly brief presentation about the 206 bollards planned for the perimeter of the arena block.

After asking the barest of questions, the board--which was anticipating a presentation by City Comptroller John Liu, who was in the wings--voted unanimously to support the plan as pending before the Department of Transportation (DOT). Five board members abstained, perhaps because of lingering wariness toward the project.

Hearing and memo coming

Forest City Ratner executive Jane Marshall did reveal two important pieces of process-related information. The Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing in early October on the bollard issue, and will leave the record open for ten days and will respond to comments, she said. (No date is listed yet on the DOT web site.)

She also acknowledged that there had been expressions of concern that the sidewalk on Atlantic Avenue going east from the arena to Sixth Avenue would be less than the promised 20 feet--the consequence of a temporary wall that would be replaced when a residential building is finally construction.

Indeed, the new documents (below, excerpted at right) reveal that, in the strip of Atlantic Avenue sidewalk just east of the arena, the sidewalk is 9.5 ft wide. Given typical buffer zone subtractions, the effective width of the sidewalk would be 5.5 feet, much less than disclosed in the environmental review and likely a bottleneck for arena-bound pedestrians, as noted by Atlantic Yards Watch.

"I understand that ESDC [Empire State Development Corporation] and their environmental consultants are studying that and are going to submit a memo," Marshall said.

Opening up

Marshall opened up by apologizing that the board agenda had stated that Forest City had been invited but was not confirmed.

"We weren't sure if we were supposed to come and present it," she said. "Of course we were always available. It got a little mixed up. But we will always be here to share information with you."

Marshall explained that DOT has referred to the Community Board a revocable consent, an agreement that says the owner of property will maintain bollards to to satisfaction of the DOT. She said the plan had been developed in coordination with other city agencies, such as Department of Environmental Protection, which wants to protect its sewers.

"The bollards are associated with the arena itself, not with the residential buidlings that are coming later," she said. "That doesn't mean residential buildings won't have beefed up security."

Describing the plan

Susan Walter, an engineer for FCR's consultant Stantec, then described the perimter plan, as presented in documents submitted to DOT, which also includes such things as new street trees and benches. Given the somewhat limited magnification available, it wasn't that easy for attendees to examine.

She noted that no bollards are placed at the site of Building 2, the first tower planned, at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street: "The secure perimeter will be built into the foundations of Building 2."

At the northwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Sixth Avenue, a retaining wall--42 inches high, with an 8-foot mesh fence--will be built into part of the secure perimeter, along Atlantic, thus narrowing the sidewalk. Walter called that "an interim temporary condition" and that, "we'd anticipate when Building 4 is built, they'll build a secure perimeter into the design of the building."

At that point, Marshall added, the sidewalk would become even with the arena sidewalk, and thus would represent the width disclosed and planned for "in the public approval documents." Hence, apparently, the ESDC memo that will explain it all.

(One pending question: how long is that "interim temporary condition" expected, especially since the narrow sidewalk would be used by arena-goers?)

Below, a view of the arena site, from the southwest, by SHoP architects.

More details

In response to a question, Walter said the bollards would be a foot in diameter, 36 inches off the ground, with a stainless steel cover. Added Marshall, "We tried to keep the design esthetic very simple."

Walter said that bollards would be spaced five feet apart from their center points, leaving a clearance of four feet to meet disability accessibility requirements.

While the FCR party did not bring a rendering, Marshall said the design for the public plaza (above) released last year represents the bollards.

While that's part of the lawsuit, more prominent are claims of racial discrimination and retaliation, with black employees claiming repeated abuse by white supervisors, preferential treatment toward Hispanic colleagues, and retaliation in response to complaints.

Two individual supervisors, for example, are charged with referring to black employees as “black motherfucker,” “dumb black bitch,” “black monkey,” “piece of shit” and “nigger.”

Two have referred to an employee blind in one eye as “cyclops,” and “the one-eyed guy,” and an employee with a nose disorder as “the nose guy.”

There's been no official response yet though arena spokesman Barry Baum told the Daily News they, but take “allegations of this kind very seriously” and have "a zero tolerance policy for…

To supporters of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, it's a long-awaited plan for long-overlooked land. "The Atlantic Yards area has been available for any developer in America for over 100 years,” declared Borough President Marty Markowitz at a 5/26/05 City Council hearing.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, mused on 11/15/05 to WNYC's Brian Lehrer, “Isn’t it interesting that these railyards have sat for decades and decades and decades, and no one has done a thing about them.” Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco, in a 12/19/04 New York Times article ("In a War of Words, One Has the Power to Wound") described the railyards as "an empty scar dividing the community."

But why exactly has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard never been developed? Do public officials have some responsibility?

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Community Update meeting June 14, held at 55 Hanson Place, addressed multiple issues, including delays in the project, a new detente with project neighbors,concerns about traffic congestion, upcoming sewer work and demolitions, and an explanation of how high winds caused debris to fly off the under-construction 38 Sixth Avenue building. I'll have more coverage.
Security issues came up several times at the meeting.
Wayne Bailey, a resident who regularly takes photos and videos (that I often use) of construction/operations issues that impact residents, asked representatives of Tishman Construction if the security guard at the sites they're building works for them.
After Tishman Senior VP Eric Reid said yes, Bailey asked why a guard told him not to shoot video of the site, even though he was on a public street.

"I will address it with principals for that security firm," Reid said.
Forest City Ratner executive Ashley Cotton, the …

This graphic, posted in February 2018, is post-dated to stay at the top of the blog. It will be updated as announced configurations change and buildings launch. Note the unbuilt B1 and the proposed--but not yet approved--shift in bulk to the unbuilt Site 5.

The August 2014 tentative configurations proposed by developer Greenland Forest City Partners will change. The project is already well behind that tentative timetable.

How many people are expected?

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has a projected 6,430 apartments housing 2.1 persons per unit (as per Chapter 4 of the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement), which would mean 13,503 new residents, with 1,890 among them in low-income affordable rentals, and 2,835 in moderate- and middle-income affordable rentals.

That leaves 8,778 people in market-rate rentals and condos, though let's call it 8,358 after subtracting 420 who may live in 200 promised below-market condos. So that's 5,145 in below-market units, though many of them won…

There are obituary notices in the Bowling Green Daily News and the Wichita Eagle, which state:
He was born in Wichita, KS where he attended public Schools and Wichita State University. He lived for many years in Brooklyn, NY, and was employed as a legal assistant. David's hobby was cartography and had an avid interest in Mass Transit Systems of the world. David was predeceased by his father, Kenneth E. Sheets. He is survived by his mother, Wilma Smith, step-brother, Billy Ray Smith and his wife, Jane all of Bowling Green; step-sister, Ellen Smith Alexander and her husband, Jerry of Bella Vista, AR; several cousins and step-nieces and step-nephews also survive. Memorial Services will be on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 1:00 pm with visitation from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday at Johnson-Vaughn-Phe…

Notably, a lease valued at $40 million "upfront to lease up to 43 acres over 49 years... seems like a good deal on rent for the state-controlled property." Also, the Long Island Rail Road will expand service to Belmont.

That indicates public support for an arena widely described as "privately financed," but how much? We don't know yet, but some more details--or at least questions--have emerged.

An Aqueduct comparable?

Well, we don't know what the other bid was, and there aren't exactly parcels that large offering direct comparables.

But consider: Genting New York LLC in September 2010 was granted a franchise to operate a video lottery terminal under a 30 year lease on 67 acres at Aqueduct Park (as noted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo).

At right is a photo of a poster spotted in Hasidic Williamsburg right. Clearly there's an event scheduled at the Barclays Center aimed at the Haredi Jewish community (strict Orthodox Jews who reject secular culture), but the lack of English text makes it cryptic.

The website Matzav.com explains, Protest Against Israeli Draft of Bnei Yeshiva Rescheduled for Barclays Center:
A large asifa to protest the drafting of bnei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel into the Israeli army that had been set to take place this month will instead be held on Sunday, 17 Sivan/June 11, at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, NY.
So attendees at a big gathering will protest an apparent change of policy that will make it much more difficult for traditional Orthodox Jewish students--both Hasidic (who follow a rebbe) and non-Hasidic (who don't)--to get deferments from the draft. Comments on the Yeshiva World website explain some of the debate.